Thursday, December 30, 2010

You have already changed the world in your two short years. You made me a mommy and us a family.... for that I am forever grateful! I am so lucky to be your Mommy and am honored to watch you grow. Your personality has been blossoming before my eyes. You are sweet and considerate, playful and funny, determined and even a little stubborn :) I cherish our special time together and love you, love you, LOVE YOU!

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Friday, December 17, 2010

I am officially 30 weeks along with Baby Hazel. This pregnancy seems to be flying by! It's been way different than my pregnancy with Charlotte... especially during the beginning! With Big Sister I was very sick and thankfully never got that way with this one... I just remember being super tired in the first trimester. I've literally gained half as much weight thus far than I did with Charlotte... I guess that I learned that eating for two doesn't mean eating for two linebackers :) Charlotte was our little early bird, born at just 34 weeks. There was really no explanation for her prematurity so I can't help but worry about little Hazel coming early. I try not to let myself think about it much but it is always in the back of my mind. Positive thoughts everyone... I will get to "enjoy" the end of pregnancy this time around :) Everyday is a good day and I am so so happy to have this little girl thriving inside me!... I know she is thriving because she is strong!

kick. thump. twist. wiggle.

Charlotte loves to talk about her baby sister "Haish-Haish". Whenever we see a baby she says "baby!" and then says "Haish-Haish" :) She does the same with the crib, my belly ... really anything baby related. She knows that Hazel is in my tummy and if you ask her what is in her tummy she'll tell you "noonools!" which is usually true. Noodles morning, noon and night!

Sunday, December 5, 2010

It has been a very white December in the city of trees and we are just loving it!! Last week I got all of our Christmas decorations out while Jake was working in Sun Valley for a couple of day so he came home to a nice surprise :) This may appear to be a darling picture of Charlotte helping decorate the tree but it is actually a picture of our darling undecorating the tree :) I filled the bottom three feet or so with kid friendly ornaments and she just loves rearranging them.... all the way into the playroom. Ha!

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Charlotte has always been a great little communicator and it is so exciting to hear her start putting words and thoughts together. The first sentence (of sorts) that we heard was around Halloween time. I had put a sheet over our outdoor lamp and glued on some ghost eyes and mouth. Every time we pulled up to the house Charlotte would point to our ghost and say "boo!'. One day silly Dada put a headband on our ghost that had kitty ears and after staring at it for a minute she laughed "Boo. Meow. Nooo." Awesome first sentence :)

Her second sentence might even be awesomer...

(and yes, made up words totally count, haha!)

Lately she has really taken to little Cowboy. She always tells us that he is hers... remember "mine" is a favorite word. She loves Lily too but if you ask her who's dog Lily is she will tell you "Dada's". She insists that Cow (aka Tao Tao) is in her bed with her for naps and bedtime and if Jake tries to bring him to work she loses her mind! Cowboy is very tolerant of all this new attention... hugs, loves, pets, body slams, the constant hollering of his name :) Anyway.. the other day our neighbor had stopped by and told Charlotte that "he's a good boy", referring to little Tao. Charlotte immediately said "he's a mine". So cute!!

Sunday, November 28, 2010

My little family has so much to be thankful for! We enjoyed a wonderful holiday together and with our big family too :) One of the things I am most thankful for is motherhood. This little lady has given the world to me. She constantly amazes and entertains me, challenges and teaches me. Everyday is so beautiful being Charlotte's Mama!

Fun with little cousins...

Fun with big cousins :)

This was my posse growing up and I am so personally thankful that Charlotte has a little cousin posse of her own. Laila, Mate, Charlotte, Timo, Eisley and soon to be Hazel (among others sure to be added.. not by me :))are going to make many memories growing up together.

I am thankful for Jake! Not only because he is an awesome best friend and husband to me but also because he a wonderful, committed and fun Daddy to Charlotte. His girls (all of us) are the luckiest in the world... and we know it!

Here is a picture of our little turkey looking tired but refusing to relax... too much fun to still be had.

like spinning off of the sit-n-spin and playing with the other side of the family big cousins :)

There is a lot of love in this family and we are thankful for each other everyday!

Looks like Mama needs some practice taking pictures of people taller than 3ft :)

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

We have had an upstairs and downstairs potty for Charlotte for a couple months now, not because I thought she would potty train super young but because I wanted her to be familiar with them. Up until yesterday they have pretty much been dust collectors that she occasionally pees in :) BUT yesterday was a glorious day! She had a little diapie rash so she was having naked time and randomly used her potty while she playing pants-less. We were so excited and made a really big deal out of it. She even got a chocolate chip as a reward. They rest of the day she used the potty with only one accident on the carpet. Amazing! This morning I woke up without expectations but offered her the potty. She tried (which is kinda darling) but nothing came out. We carried on with our normal morning routine (pants-less... just her, haha!) of breakfast and Barney and sometime during Barney's song and dance she darted off and used her potty!... I didn't notice her leave but she brought me the proof :) She kept using the potty and when she went down for her nap I put a diapie on just in case. After her nap we decided to go get potty training supplies... stickers for a potty chart, big girl panties, piddle pad for the car seat, ect. It's funny.. the smallest training pants that I could find are waaay to big for our 22 month old, 21 pounder. I'll just alter them a bit with my sewing machine and look around on-line for a smaller option. She finished out the day using her potty and getting stickers as a reward. I am soso proud of my little girl! She seems very proud of herself too which is the best thing ever! Looking forward to day 3 tomorrow. Yay Charlotte!!

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Here are a bunch of pictures from Halloween... in reverse order, starting with our last stop of the night. Our home :)

I lOvE Halloween! It was really nice being settled in our home to celebrate this year. We had a Halloween/Birthday Party this afternoon where Charlotte got to see a bunch of family and little friends. Then we stopped by GrammaGreat's and Grandpa Great's where Charlotte got to see my folks and charge up with a juice box. I made a big pot of soup and invited a bunch of family and friends over to our place but due to sick kids, other obligations, ect. the only people that came over was the Bolin's. After dinner Jake, Celeste and I brought Charlotte trick-or-treating. It was so amazing... that sounds weird but it really was :) Charlotte, our little gnomie totally understood the concept! She carried her little bag door to door, knocked, said something along the lines if Ta-ta-ta and collected her candy... we tried to convince her to also say her version of thank you but she was pretty quick to be on her way to the next house. It was a really nice night!

Here are some pictures from last year that somehow never made it onto the blog:

Halloween has always been my favorite and now, with my family it is such a joy! I am seriously already brainstorming ideas for next year with my family of four :)